The map at the height of the Goose-Artemis warFeb 1, 2021 →

The Artemis-Goose era opens with the last aftershock of 2019 - Nitrogen2Oxygen disbanding DiamondDeities on 8 January 2020, which ended Horologium and birthed Lux Nova^[1] - and closes with the only day on which both major alliances died at once.

Artemis transformed

Artemis, founded on 30 October 2019 by Imperial, Paladins United and Caeruleum Order^[1], became the era's map holder - but not with its founding roster. By March 2020 Kingdom Foxes was a member and ShadowFall held a leadership seat^[2]; by December 2020 a megalist post described Artemis as 'the war alliance made up of all the current massive land holding guilds', including Titans Valor^[3] - while founders Paladins United and Imperial had drifted out and appear on the opposing side. The exact join and leave dates of this transformation were never documented.

The chroniclers

Almost everything known about this era's alliances was written by a handful of identifiable people, and their guild affiliations matter to how the claims should be weighed. The megalist itself was created and maintained by Sg_Voltage, whose own guild is unknown - a neutral registrar^[4]. The December 2020 account of Hestia and Artemis was posted by Pally of Titans Valor, a member of both^[3]. The 'Guild Moderators' thread that names the anti-Artemis coalition was written by Sheepn of Diablo [DXI], a coalition guild^[5]. The first written use of the name Goose came from 99loulou999 of The Dark Phoenix [TNI], with Eden's Lev98bug confirming his own guild's membership half an hour later^[6]. The 1 February 2021 side-switch report is urbymine's, a former Chief of Avicia^[7]. The only Niflheim roster ever posted was written by HungHung of Avicia^[8]. A two-part illustrated roster of Goose was drawn by Drasalia of ChinaNumberOne^[9][10]. Every one of these writers was reporting on a bloc they belonged to, except Sg_Voltage.

The social layer

Alongside the war blocs ran an unusually rich community-alliance layer: Hestia (formed ~mid-2020: Titans Valor, Empire of Sindria, Lux Nova, Paladins United, later Emorians and HackForums)^[11], Niflheim (Avicia, IceBlue Team, ShadowFall, TheNoLifes)^[8], the Empire of Nemract (a political union of The Simple Ones and Mystic Woods from 17 August 2020, complete with an empress and court titles)^[1], and the perennial Valkyrie.

The rise of Goose

In December 2020 an 'unnamed group of anti-Artemis guilds' - Avicia, Emorians, Eden, Ultra Violet, Diablo, Bovemists, The Dark Phoenix, and ex-founders Paladins United and Imperial among them - erupted against the map holder^[5]: 913 territory exchanges that month, after months of skirmishing^[12]. By 19 January 2021 the coalition carried the name Goose^[6]. It grew through spring: 'BNU(IBT), SHY and TNL are all goose now', urbymine recorded on 1 February 2021^[7] - ShadowFall switching sides from Artemis leadership - and by late March it had absorbed the future Khaos core (Aequitas, WheresTheFinish, ChinaNumberOne, Fuzzy Spiders, Eden)^[9]. Goose took map control as the Goose-Artemis war ground on^[13].

The new arrivals were not all new guilds. Aequitas had existed since November 2019^[14] but only became publicly visible in this window: FrozenGalaxy opened its recruitment thread on 3 January 2021^[15], added it to the megalist a fortnight later^[16], and by 30 March it was one of the twelve guilds in Drasalia's fanart roster^[9].

Mid-era, the game itself changed: version 1.20 'Gavel Reborn' (20 January 2021)^[17] rebuilt territory warfare around war towers and a guild resource economy, and introduced the in-game ally system^[18] (see The Diplomacy update). During the February 2021 argument over the rework, Eden members described crawling through Emorians territory held at medium and high defence^[19].

Profession Heaven's neutrality

On 25 January 2021 the warring blocs jointly granted Profession Heaven neutral status as a public profession-XP guild, protected by both Goose and Artemis and given Silent Expanse territory^[1] - a protection honoured by successor alliances for over five years. The guild had been founded five days earlier by Crokee^[20][21]; who brokered the pact was never recorded.

The Great Collapse

On 11 May 2021 Goose and Artemis both collapsed on the same day - the Great Collapse. Thirteen guilds, including The Aquarium, formed Valhalla; nine formed Khaos^[22]; and the realignment era began with the two new blocs already at war.